In a blow to Rupert Murdoch's sports expansion, the British government on Friday blocked a $1-billion bid by the media magnate's British Sky Broadcasting to take over this nation's most famous soccer team, Manchester United. Industry and Trade Secretary Stephen Byers said his decision was based on the recommendations of the Monopolies and Mergers Commission, which conducted a six-month investigation of the proposed deal.

The Irish Republican Army claimed responsibility Tuesday for the powerful bomb that shattered the ruling Conservative Party's exclusive Carlton Club in central London the night before, and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's government warned that the largely symbolic attack was a warning that civilians no longer will be spared in the group's militant campaign for a united Ireland.

The British government won praise and encouragement in the House of Commons on Monday as it defended its secret contacts with the Irish Republican Army. Both sides left the door open for more exchanges. Protestant lawmakers from Northern Ireland criticized the government; most others across the political spectrum supported the peace initiatives. "We shall keep exploring again and again the opportunities for peace," said Sir Patrick Mayhew, the Cabinet official responsible for Northern Ireland.

November 10, 1992 | WILLIAM TUOHY and DOUGLAS FRANTZ, TIMES STAFF WRITERS

Three British business executives were cleared Monday of charges that they illegally sold arms-making equipment to Iraq, ending a trial that had raised new questions about the support of Saddam Hussein's regime by Western governments before the Persian Gulf War.

The British government announced Tuesday that it would ban an Islamic group that had sparked widespread public revulsion over its intention to demonstrate in a town known for paying tribute to soldiers slain in Afghanistan and Iraq. Home Secretary Alan Johnson said Islam4UK would be outlawed under a measure allowing the government to ban organizations deemed to advocate or glorify terrorism. He said the move was "not a course we take lightly" but was necessary to tackle violent extremism.

Yellow posters proclaiming "New Deal" gleam in the windows of the government job agency in the cheerless winter afternoon. Inside, Michelle Mason, who has seldom worked since leaving school, waits to learn if she's landed a part-time job in a pet shop that pays about $115 a week. "If I don't get this particular one, there's always something else around," she says vaguely. This time, what's around will be some very specific choices.

Two of Britain's most senior judges accused the United States on Wednesday of having threatened to withhold intelligence from the British government if it released information about the alleged torture of a terrorism suspect currently being held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Binyam Mohammed, an Ethiopian resident of Britain, has alleged that he was tortured during interrogations by American, British and Pakistani security agents after being detained in Pakistan in 2002.